We encountered two atypical conditions on this hike; we anticipated the first one; the second one was a surprise.
1. The road into Staircase closes just after the parking lot/kayak launch/bathroom area near the bridge/causeway over Lake Cushman. Three or four cars can park near the closure, which is at the Olympic National Park sign. Many more cars can park in the lot near the causeway.
2. We intended to hike the loop in a clockwise direction. We hiked to the suspension bridge, finding ourselves crossing three or four downed logs with relative ease. We crossed the bridge and came to a small stream crossing that typically has a log for crossing, or most times, like today, one can rock hop across the stream as it's pretty shallow. We hiked to the second stream crossing, the one that is much larger and typically has a log with a hand rail on the downstream side. It was as if the bridge had been picked up, moved downstream, and broken into hundreds of pieces. We looked upstream and downstream for what we felt would be a safe crossing (not necessarily dry, but safe), and not finding one, we turned around and hiked back out the way we came. I'm including two pictures of the area.
Bathrooms are open (but not stocked) at the Staircase trailhead by the bridge. The gravel road past the Mount Rose trailhead is full of potholes, but drivable if you go slowly. We arrived about 9:00 a.m. and saw no other cars; on the hike we encountered six other people total.
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